Not just the greatest Star Trek movie, The Wrath of Khan is arguably one of the greatest movies of all time.
Deeply underappreciated beyond the realms of Trekdom, the second of the original crew Star Trek features, 1982's Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, is a perfectly-crafted, perfectly-executed feature which knows just how to use its much beloved core characters and their respective talents/idiosyncrasies best, whilst setting off on a timeless revenge story which is equal parts military thriller, old school western, and sci-fi extravaganza, and is pure Star Trek at its best.
Set against a colourful background of the Big Bang, the frailness of the human condition, the power of lifelong friendship, the threat of becoming old and redundant, and the notion of finding impossible answers to impossible situations, thematically, interesting ideas wash over the entire piece. However they don’t interfere with its otherwise straightforward running as a space-set tale of two sworn-enemy battleship captains locking horns ferociously and to the death.
Trek perfection.
In that respect The Wrath of Khan is more comparable to movies like The Hunt for Red October or Master and Commander (and indeed the tale of 'Moby Dick', which Khan repeatedly quotes), than anything else in the Trek universe itself, other than perhaps the botched bizarro-world attempt at retelling the story by that hack Damon Lindelhof – Star Trek Into Darkness. It’s a testament to the strengths and qualities of The Wrath of Khan that, even in spite of such credibility-destroying digs, it remains an utter masterpiece, leaving imitators such as Into Darkness more unintentionally funny than anything else. Here the script, performances, set-pieces, score and story all come together in a beautiful symphony and the results are timeless and, evidently, unrepeatable.
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